Tossin’ It Out There: What are YOUR Favorites Films From the 1980s?

Now, for all of our new friends who found us last week through the Stallone/Schwarzenegger poll, NO, this is not a retro blog. LOL. I do talk about things OTHER than the 80s! :D

But we have been working on the “80s Movie Draft” for the (title pending) Movie Podcast, and I thought that I would give everyone a chance to sound off… put the blood in the water, so to speak.

The 1980s was a great decade for movies. Action movies, slasher flicks, John Hughes movies, some great franchises, MORE action flicks… there’s no shortage of movies to choose from. Trust me, we just did an exercise in it. :D From “Airplane!” to “Zelig” the 80s covered the bases, as the poster embed illustrates.

So which are your favorites? Try not to get carried away and list hundreds for us… but say YOU were prepping for an 80s draft… which movies would be YOUR must haves? What would you grab in the first rounds? LOL.

Some monster-sized classics emerged from the 80s. “The Empire Strikes Back”, “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, “E.T.”, “Ghostbusters”, but there were also no shortage of quirky decade signature movies like “Weird Science” or “Teen Wolf”. Comedies in abundance, from the genesis of the “Teen Sex Comedy” with “Porky’s” to more wholesome family fare like “Honey I Shrunk the Kids”.

There’s far too many for me to list out, and I don’t need to. YOU know them too. And that’s what we want to hear… Which 80s Movies Are YOUR Favorites? Click through and leave a comment, and feel free to comment in reply to others. Just be respectful :D Movie discussion is the name of the game on these!

Your love of Space exploration shows through, bud. I WOULD say that I stand my ground that Alien is better than Aliens. But that may be a moot point here… you just left that off your list cause it’s a 70s movie, right?

My list would definitely include most of the movies mentioned before like Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, Batman, Beetlejuice, Die Hard, Terminator, Princess Bride, etc.
In addition to those, I’d add on Maximum Overdrive and The Hitcher.
In terms of animated films, the 80s had so many really great ones also: Little Mermaid, Land Before Time, Great Mouse Detective, Black Cauldron…

I’m sure if I sat down and looked through a complete list, I’d have even more.

“The Emerald Forest”. Based on a real story, John Boorman’s film is about a boy lost in the jungles of Brazil and raised by natives “the invisible people”. All the non-natives are evil in one way or another from the corporation building the huge dam to kidnappers and gunrunners! Sound familiar? It should. Cameron stole it almost scene for scene to make “Avatar”! Boorman was one of the great directors of the 1980’s!

Oh for God’s sake, is there any movie people DONT claim Avatar was a shot for shot ripoff of? Ferngully, Dances with Wolves, Emeral Forest… give the man a break. He’s as good a Hollywood reheater as everyone else.

Meanwhile, I haven’t seen “The Emarald Forest”. Not how cleverly I dstra– SQUIRREL!!

There are too many. I can’t chose!!!! And everyone keeps reminding me of others. So instead, I’ll just say that one of the movies I DID NOT like was E.T. I’m probably the only one that didn’t like that movie.

I’m glad you mentioned John Hughes right in the post, so Breakfast Club is included. I’m sure your intrepid team will dig enough titles but so far I did not read a super suspense-comedy: Clue. It is SO funny.

I love that poster, saw it a while ago on a wordpress blogger who only knew like 7 of the movies and even got Back to the Future wrong and was impressed that I knew about 20 of them off the top of my head.

As for the actual topic, hands down Princess Bride. I could watch that every week for a year and not grow tired of it. I also loved all of the similar fantasy/sci-fi movies too, but Princess Bride is definitely at the top of my list.

You don’t know Flight of the Navigator?! You must watch it, it’s a really great fantasy sci-fi movie along the lines of The Goonies, only a bit cheesier. And I did know that Princess Bride only became successful later on, like so many movies made ahead of their time.

It’s been many a year since I’ve seen Flight of the Navigator, but I remember it being a lot of fun. I agree with Bubba, you should watch it sometime, simply because it’s one of those flicks that if you’re an 80s kid, you’re kind of expected to have seen. (As to why not Ferris there, I guess he decided to go with something other than the easy and obvious. I’m more perplexed about Zelig, to be honest. I know Z is tough, but surely “Zapped!” fits in with the tone of the others more.)

This is such a broad question, so I’m going to look at my Flickchart and see what it says.

According to that site, my ’80s top 10 is The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Aliens, Back to the Future, Say Anything, Do the Right Thing, Big Trouble in Little China, Superman II, The Right Stuff, and The Karate Kid.

My top 10 movies from the 80s (in no particular order apart from the first one) are:
BLADE RUNNER
GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM
DIE HARD
LETHAL WEAPON
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
HIGHLANDER
BLUES BROTHERS
ALIENS
THE PRINCESS BRIDE
TOOTSIE

Alien was not better than Aliens – just a different animal (no pun intended). Aliens is still my fave of the whole franchise.
And, yeah, pretty much wall-to-wall blockbusters, what can I say? LOL

I’ll (sort of) back you up. I agree that they’re two wholly different animals. If they weren’t the same franchise, it’d almost be unreasonable to compare them at all. But Alien is the “best” of the franchise.

Alien is more cerebral, and the better film, in my opinion. It’s more original and it’s scarier. Aliens is a fantastic action movie. But when it tries to make you think, it just rehashes the original’s themes with dumbed down versions. The universe is lucky that James Cameron is so goddamn good at stealing other peoples ideas, beating you over the head with a message, and making an AMAZING adventure ride out of it. Without his unique gift, I bet Aliens would have ended up Terminator 3 bad. Or even worse… Highlander 2 bad.

Alien 3 is closer to the original, and is itself, more original thematically than Aliens. I really feel it gets a bad rep because so many people were expecting more of the sequel than the original. Ressurection is closer to Aliens, except it doesn’t even try to make you feel anything, other than sad at the death of the thinking man’s Sci-Fi-Horror film.

Anyways, thanks for having my back on Alien… but I dont think Alien3 gets a bad rap. I just rewatched it, its kind of a dreary mess. It was ok, and I dod like it better than Resurrection, myself, but I wouldnt call it undeserving of its rep…

OK, I have to admit, Alien was more cerebral and scarier than Aliens. But what kind of argument is saying that the original movie in a franchise is more original than its sequels? No kidding, Sherlock! LOL I just think Aliens won out as all-round big-screen entertainment, the well-documented Cameron Non-Stop Rollercoaster Ride effect. Hell, in addition to almost non-stop action, it had humour, pathos and that absolutely visceral sequence where Ripley goes back for Newt and calls out the Alien queen with “get away from her, you bitch!” I have watched the movie many, many times and every time the whole place erupts at that moment! Pure cinema.
yeah, so OK, Cameron has his big ol’ blind spots, who doesn’t? His simplistic take on corporate/military greed and short-sightedness doesn’t seem to have changed one jot between Aliens and Avatar (‘find out what the blue monkeys want!’); you could wish for him to become a tad more sophisticated in his portrayal of these things, but it seems unlikely and what the heck – he is still one of the best writers/directors of big-scale action movies out there.

“But what kind of argument is saying that the original movie in a franchise is more original than its sequels?”

Ha!

Cameron’s “simplistic take on corporate/military greed and short-sightedness” is one of the huge reasons why I dont think it’s even close between the two movies. You could basically add “Motherhood” to that list, too. LOL But, I understand, its got special effects and action sequences, so people like it better.

Ooh, ‘Motherhood’… low blow! LOL
Yep, it’s always easier/more fun to disconnect the old brain and enjoy the shiny, fast-moving object rather than actually thinking during a cinematic experience!
Doesn’t mean the blockbusters are better movies, but they’re easier – just like eating snack food is easier than taking time to make and appreciate the complex flavours of a good meal.

I thought for sure you’d pick up on I’m gonna git you sucka instead of Annie! LOL.

Yeah, I liked the musical as a kid. Not really for Annie, but just to see them complain so much while doing chores, etc! Because I did the same thing and sang the same songs when the parents would make me clean! haha. It usually led to more chores being added on for being smart. LOL funny memories

There are so many great 80s movies and most of them are already taken. That’s what I get for waiting so long to answer. I agree with Indiana Jones, any John Hughes movie (esp. Sixteen Candles. OMG, Jake Ryan! Also, The Breakfast Club), Teen Wolf, Karate Kid, etc.

Okay, I’m going to pick Scarface. LOVE that movie!!!! De Palma and Stone, what a pair! “Chi chi, grab the yeyo.”

Everyone’s got the blockbusters covered. I don’t think I need to go into the Ghostbusters, Empire, Back to the Future, Ferris Bueller, Indiana Jones stuff. I’m going to shout out some of my more cult favourites of the 80s, I think. Some of them were big hits, but I don’t think that many people still enjoy them. I’m not arguing that these are timeless classics or anything… just that *I* could watch them any time, any where, and have. Repeatedly.

Has 48hrs been mentioned yet? I loved that movie as a kid. It was the ultimate 80’s action flick. It launched Eddie Murphy into the stratosphere. Nolte was awesome…I just saw it about two weeks ago on cable and I must say, it holds up well.

Understandable though. I think Die Hard may be the best FROM the 80s… but Dirty Dancing may be the bigger EIGHTIES movie. If you get that. Between the soundtrack and whatnot… thats a big part of the 80s…